Movies At Midnight

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This week, we're continuing Serial Killer/Slasher month with our review of The Burning, directed by Tony Maylam.

At Camp Blackfoot, a group of teenagers decide to play a prank on caretaker Cropsy. The prank goes horribly wrong, and severely burns Cropsy after he catches on fire. Five years later, Cropsy goes to nearby Camp Stonewater to start his reign of terror against the teenagers and camp counselors. Everyone at Camp Stonewater now have to fight for survival as Cropsy gets his revenge.

While The Burning has gained a significant cult following since its release in 1981, the movie has failed to live up to other slasher films at the time, being forgotten while Friday the 13th and Halloween continued to dominate with their franchises. But does The Burning actually deserve more recognition than it has received? Listen to Nikki and Cody's review to find out!

Welcome back to Movies at Midnight!

This week, we're continuing Slasher/Serial Killer Month with our review of In A Violent Nature, directed by Chris Nash.

A couple of teenagers out camping for the weekend come upon the burned remains of a old fire tower. One of them takes a locket that's hanging on a pole inside. Unknown to them, this locket is keeping the soul of killer Johnny at bay. Johnny rises from his grave and starts to make a murderous rampage to find his locket.

In A Violent Nature came out in 2024, and was met with critical acclaim and a modest earning at the box office. The movie was liked well enough that it has a sequel now in active production. But does the movie deserve the love it has received? Listen to Nikki and Cody's review to find out!

Welcome back to Movies at Midnight!

This week, we're kicking off our Serial Killer/Slasher month with our review of The Strangers,directed by Brian Bertino.

James and Kristen head home from a friends wedding, sad and worn out. James had proposed to Kristen at the party, but Kristen felt it wasn't the right time. At the house, they hear a knock at the door. A woman asks them if Tamara is home, but neither James or Kristen know a Tamara. The woman leaves, and James and Kristen are left feeling unnerved. Little do they know, this woman is part of a trio of killers that have now targeted the couple to be killed. James and Kristen must survive the night from these killers.

The Strangers came out in 2008, and despite commercial success, critics did not take a liking to it. The movie went on to spawn a sequel in 2018, and a reboot trilogy in 2024. But does this original deserve more love over a decade later? Listen to Nikki and Cody's review to find out.

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This week, we're concluding Jordan Peele month with a movie that he produced, HIM, directed by Justin Tipping.

Cam is an up and coming football star, on track to become the next big name in the game. All that changes when Cam suffers a serious head injury that puts his whole future at risk. Cam gets a call from football legend Isaiah White, who recruits Cam to become the new quarterback for the team The Saviors. As Cam begins his training with Isaiah, he quickly learns that he is in way over his head, and things start to take a sinister turn.

HIM was released in theaters in 2025, and became a box office failure, as well as being hated by critics. Does the movie have more merit to it than what was given during its release? Listen to Nikki and Cody's review to find out.

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This week, we're continuing Jordan Peele month with our review of Nope.

After the death of their father, O.J. and Emerald Haywood are struggling to keep their family business of training horses going. One night, O.J. and Emerald experience a strange occurrence happen at their farm, and the two of them start to believe an alien ship is the cause of it. Seeing the opportunity to gain fame and fortune, O.J. and Emerald decide to try and capture an image of the flying saucer. As they try to lure the saucer out to capture it on film, they realize that this alien craft may not be exactly what they think it is.

Nope was released in theaters in 2022, and became a huge commercial and critical success. Many have said that it is Peele's best movie to date, and cited its similarities to early Steven Spielberg films, like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jaws. But does the movie deserve the critical praise it got at the time? Listen to Nikki and Cody's review to find out!

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This week, we're continuing Jordan Peele month with our review of Us!

Adeline and her family take a trip to Santa Cruz for the summer, but she's very hesitant to go. Adeline experienced a traumatic event at Santa Cruz as a child where she encountered her doppleganger. During their first night, a family of dopplegangers show up to Adeline's house and starts to terrorize them. The duplicate family wants to take over their lives, and will kill them to have it. Now Adeline's family has to survive being attacked by these Tethered people.

Us came out in 2019, and was a hit at the box office, although reception on the movie was more luke warm than for Get Out. Now seven years later, is the movie actually just as good or better than Peele's first film? Listen to Cody and Nikki's review to find out.

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We're kicking off the month of June by celebrating director Jordan Peele. Each week of June, we'll be reviewing each of Peele's films, starting this week with Get Out.

Chris is going away for the weekend with his girlfriend Rose to meet her parents. Chris is nervous about the trip since he is the first black man that Rose has dated, and is worried about how her parents will react. Once they get there, Rose's parents welcome Chris with arms wide open. However, as the weekend goes on, strange things start to happen around the house, and Chris might be in more danger than he realizes.

Get Out is Jordan Peele's first directorial film, and it was a smash hit at the box office. The film also secured the new director his first Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay. With themes of race relations in modern day America, Get Out has remained relevant for nearly a decade since its release, but what do Cody and Nikki think of the film? Listen to their review to find out!

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This week, we are ending Cody's Birth Month with a review of Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan.

Leonard Shelby is an insurance investigator whose life is upturned when two men break into his house and assault and murder of his wife. The incident also leaves Leonard with short term memory loss, and he has to take copious amounts of notes to try and live his life as normally as he can. Leonard embarks on a path of revenge to find the man that took his memory and his wife away from him, but everyone around Leonard has their own motivations to use him and his condition to their own advantages.

Memento was released in 2000, and its critical and commercial success cemented Christopher Nolan's name of great directors. But does the movie hold up 26 years later? Listen to Cody and Nikki's review to find out.

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This week, we're continuing with Cody's Birth Month by reviewing The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan

Set 9 months after the events of Batman Begins, Batman has done great things in Gotham City. Criminals are now afraid to go out at night in fear of running into the caped crusader, but a new threat now shows up in the form of a man calling himself The Joker. The Joker works with Gotham's mob bosses to get Batman to come out and reveal his true identity to the world. As Bruce Wayne struggles with the threat that Joker poses, he's also looking to Gotham's new District Attorney Harvey Dent to be the face of Gotham's justice system.

The Dark Knight came out in 2008, and was a smash hit at the box office, grossing over $1 Billion. The movie was also critically acclaimed, even earning actor Heath Ledger a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor. But does the movie still stand above all the other superhero films that have come out in the past 18 years? Listen to Cody and Nikki's review to find out.

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This week, we're continuing Cody's Birth Month by reviewing 12 Angry Men, directed by Sidney Lumet.

An 18 year old boy is on trial for the murder of his father. as the 12 men on the jury go back to deliberate, the verdict seems very clear; the boy is guilty. One of the jurors disagrees, and argues that the evidence presented is not sufficient enough to give a guilty verdict. It is now this one juror against the other 11 men, and as the movie goes on, revelations about the case start to have everyone in the room question what they were so sure about the case.

12 Angry Men was released in 1957, and while the movie wasn't a huge success in theaters, the film was met with critical acclaim. It is now considered one of the best films of all time, but do Cody and Nikki share that same opinion? Listen to their review to find out!